Jessica Steele

As I have had the fortune of the flu these past few days, I have been able to catch up on my literature. I had to laugh, however, when Arizona Realtor came up in my pile of magazines. At first the theme, Short Sales 2009, sparked my interest. What agent couldn't use a few more helpful hints on how to close these horrendous transactions a little more quickly, and with a little less stress? What I found, however, was that this article, like oh-so-many other short sale articles floating around out there, is about 365 days too late. If this were news to me at this point, I would most likely not be a real estate practitioner today (nor would I have any business being one). You have got to be kidding me, if you think that defining a short sale is helpful to those of us actually practicing in today's market.

Do me a favor. If you have been practicing real estate in the Phoenix area for at least a year, and are really that behind on what has been occurring in the Phoenix market throughout the past 365 days, then please, admit your defeat, and move on. Refer your next short sale client to a colleague who has done at least a short sale transaction or two, or better yet, ten to twenty. They are all different, and none goes as smoothly as one might hope. And, if you are responsible for wasting the resources to print this garbage that we honestly don't have (I work at a school that can't afford ink for their printers and yet you are wasting your own precious resources for this?) do me a favor. PRINT SOMETHING WE HAVEN'T ALREADY HEARD. New knowledge, not refurbished verbatim, will be what help us dedicated agents succeed in today's short sale market.

I listened to it. In fact, I listened to it while my students were eagerly finishing a quiz, because they too, for the first time in my high school teaching experience, care a lot about what this president has to say. I watched not only for my career, for my colleagues, and my friends, but I watched for these students who no longer have a safe place to rest their heads. I watched for those who might not have enough to eat when they go home, for those who were uncertain whether or not their parents still had jobs, or where they were were supposed to identify their place of residence. I listened to it, because it affects everything that is going on in my world.

From what I gather, we do not have specifics. What we do have, however, is an action plan, and a sense of hope. Here, I will break it down for you, so even the most non-economically inclined can follow, and make sense of this chaos.

I believe there are three phases in this foreclosure prevention plan:

1. Help for homeowners at risk of foreclosure. This part of the plan assists homeowners who are at a high risk of defaulting on their current mortgages, but are currently making their payments. Those homeowners who hold Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac loans will have the option of refinancing their loans, so long as the mortgage does not exceed 105% of the home's current value.
2. Help for homeowners already in default. Phase II of the foreclosure prevention plan will help homeowners currently behind in their monthly payments, and in need of a loan modification. The government will agree to share in the lenders' costs of lowering a borrower's payment so that it makes up no more than 38% of the homeowner's income. Homeowners may also receive up to $1,000 to help them stay current on their new mortgage.
3. Multiplying resources to assist Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. To enthuse investors to get back in the market again, this plan would help encourage the purchase of secondary market companies' mortgage-backed securities. This phase is the most confusing to me, so if anyone has a helpful spin to put on it, I would welcome your insight!

More specifics should come March 4, but for now, at least there is a buzz of hope in the air. For some of my students and their families, this is all we need to get through our day.

The typical consumer feels that he or she is fairly protected in regards to one's credit score. The Fair Credit Reporting Act, many believe, protects them from errors that could pop up in their credit reports. Although the FCRA does give consumers the ability to change and amend any wrongful information in their credit reports, however, it does not automaticaly search for these errors. That lies in the hands of the consumer himself. Credit bureaus are simply given information by creditors, and do not take the time to verify it. This is why you, the consumer, should become knowledgeable about the information in your credit report before even beginning to apply for a mortgage. No one wants bad credit, or wrongful credit reports, to ruin one's dream of homeownership.

Here are five steps consumers can take that will ensure accuracy of one's credit report:

1. Find out what is in your credit report. www.annualcreditreport.com entitles consumers to one free credit report each year. Further, if you have been denied some form of credit, such as a mortgage, make sure you ask the lender whether information in your credit report played a role in the denial. This will allow you, the consumer, to be very conscious of what is occurring with your credit.
2. Take action against inaccurate information. If you do find incorrect information on your credit report, you are entitled by the FCRA to dispute the inacurracy. If you utilize the above website, you can easily report the misinformation on-line, in a quick, hastle-free manner. Consumers may also write a letter to all three credit bureaus,outlining the dispute.
3. Take action against inaccurate information at the source. If the error has been made on behalf of a credit card ompany,for example, you will want to contact them directly with regards to the wrongful information.
4. Remove outdated information. By law, credit bureaus should remove information in your file that is over seven years old. Some neutral information, such as one's employment information, does not need to be removed, but older information should be removed that may play a role in negatively affecting one's credit.
5. Protect your credit identity. Always cut up old credit cards and any credit account information to avoid fraudulent activity with your accounts. Consumers can take several steps to ensure that their credity identity is protected, even going so far as to pay credit bureaus to put a freeze on their credits while applying for a mortgage.

If you have taken these steps, and still find that your credit score is too low to obtain a mortgage, talk to a lender about the steps you can take to repair your credit. Once the plan is in place, stick to it! Awareness is always the first step. An action plan, the second.

More information about consumer credit! Knowing what you are dealing with up front will ameliorate the more stressful loan application process, and make you a more knowledgeable, empowered consumer.

I know what they say about making assumptions. Well, they certainly did make an a-- out of me this past week, after submitting an offer on a short sale with my clients. We have already had a nasty strand of luck, including finding extensive mold and water damage to their dream home we made an offer on in December (not a fun nor inexpensive investigation). I should not have been surprised when we submitted an offer on a short sale, and after speaking to the listing agent was asked, "Now, what exactly is a short sale?".

Let me back track. That comment was from the listing agent. HE WAS THE ONE THAT HAD LISTED THE SHORT SALE!

I guess it was wrong of me to make the assumption that after working in the greater Phoenix real estate market for the past few years that one should know, and understand what a short sale is. Especially after agreeing to list one! Forgive me if I am wrong, but if I do not have the knowledge or skills necessary to effectively market and sell a home for my clients, you had better bet I am a. working with a partner who DOES have the experience necessary to make the sale, or b. I am referring it over to someone with the knowledge necessary to make the sale.

I think my clients and I will go elsewhere. I wonder if his poor clients know what they have gotten themselves into. . .

Say speed cams to anyone who operates a motor vehicle here in the Valley and you are going to get a reaction. Not saying that the reaction is all badper say, but you will get a definite opinion on the topic, nonetheless. Ask me about speed cams tonight, for example, while I am curled up blogging in my bed, and I would tell you that they are a useful mechanism for protecting us on our abnormally dangerous Valley roads. Ask me about speed cams at about 7:13 in the a.m. on a Monday through Friday, however, and I will probably use a rather unbecoming array of vocabulary to describe their "benefit" (which I will mutter oh-so-sarcastically) while slamming on my breaks to avoid slamming into the idiot in front of me who feels that he will only avoid a ticket by driving 20 m.p.h. under the posted limit. Honestly, in those moments I think they may cause more accidents than help prevent.

Nonetheless, they are here, and here to stay for awhile. The threshold for the camera tickets has changed, however, and for the benefit of approximately 30% of Phoenix drivers. More than 6,000 motorists would have been spared a ticket in 2008, according to The Arizona Republic, had the threshold been a mere 1 m.p.h. more (10 m.p.h. over was the previous camera flash). 6,436 motorists can now rest in peace tonight, saved by that beloved change.

Not that your problems are going to go away. Another 20 cameras are set to be installed in Pima County in the oncoming months, people, and so the fad continues. No amount of protesting on overpasses and pissing off the otherwise happy people of Phoenix on a Friday afternoon as you put a dent in their Happy Hour plans is going to change the camera situation here in the Valley (at least not until the next election ballot). So take a deep breath, have a cocktail, and for goodness sake just drive within 11 m.p.h. of the posted speed limit. Protect yourself and your fellow motorists, or just simply wave at the camera as it flashes your pic. You don't have to pay it if it arrives by mail anyway . . . . but that is another post!